Something Different Is About To Hit The Stock Market

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The stock market is experiencing a broad downturn, with the S&P 500 falling approximately 1.7% and the Nasdaq down 1.6% today. This weakness is attributed to a combination of geopolitical tensions stemming from the Iran conflict, increased oil prices, and a hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve. The conflict in the Middle East is adding to the uncertainty, with the Houthis attacking Saudi cities and Saudi Arabia vowing retaliation. This escalation poses a risk to oil prices, which are already elevated due to the ongoing conflict. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's commitment to higher interest rates to combat inflation is also weighing on market sentiment. Economic data released this week, including PPI and Core PPI figures, showed mixed results, adding to the uncertainty. However, existing home sales data was stronger than expected. Investors are closely watching upcoming inflation data, particularly CPI and core CPI, which are expected to remain elevated. The US Treasury 15-year+ yields have shown negative long-run returns, with the 10-year rolling annualized return at -2% as of August 2026, marking the worst performance on record for this period. In this environment, safe-haven assets like the US dollar are seeing some strength. Looking ahead, key economic releases include inflation data and consumer sentiment surveys. The stock market's performance during iPhone release events historically shows mixed results, with an average gain of 0.3% on the day of the event, but a median loss of -0.6%. The tech sector, particularly semiconductor stocks like Intel (INTC), is showing some resilience. Intel has shown it can raise prices on personal computer chips, and the company might soon start charging even more as the high costs of memory components weigh on the broader technology ecosystem. Intel is reportedly looking to increase prices for personal-computer central processing units by 10% in October, according to Taiwan-based tech publication DigiTimes. Intel also could stop making and selling its Small Core products, the report said. Those offerings come with a lower margin, meaning they're less profitable for the company. Prices for Intel's PC CPUs have already been climbing since the end of last year as costs have risen across the supply chain for components such as memory chips and printed circuit boards, DigiTimes reported, citing supply-chain operators. Those dynamics have also led to price increases for server CPUs, which are in high demand for artificial-intelligence data centers. The chart shows that after a significant rally, the SPY is rejected at market open today, and the broader market is trending downwards.

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